Voice education app HaltEbola wins Ampion Venture Bus competition in West Africa

Ampion Bus Africa is driving through the continent on a mission to inspire and promote local startups. And so, with the recent conclusion of Ampion West Africa’s startup competition, health app HaltEbola got dubbed the winner out of seven startups.

With backing from some of the continent’s biggest tech leaders, the initiative seeks to develop innovative solutions on the continent, using both international and local skills and talent.

Read more: Leading tech companies MTN, SAP, Microsoft provide support for Ampion Africa

And with the current Ebola epidemic a major topic of concern in West Africa and the whole world, the Ampion Venture Bus decided to award startups aiming to help prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

HalthEbola is a mobile application using voice messages to connect people in rural areas to share information on Ebola in their local languages. The team behind the app — Martine Pandam (Togo), Luc Alapini (Benin) and Michael Chu’no Ike (Nigeria) — elaborates on the app’s development:

We were not contented with expecting others to lead the path in solving African challenges; we were determined to take the lead so that others can support. To this end, we modeled HaltEbola, a digital platform that uses mobile to connect rural communities to information, practices and expertise that would be helpful in the current Ebola crisis.

Microsoft will provide a package of free Software and Training to the winning startups after the final pitch. Additionally, the best startups developed on the Ampion Venture Buses will receive an extensive Fellowship Program including funding, mentorship and free office spaces.

“With the outlook of extensive support through Ampion’s network, we hope to be able to launch the prototype in a few weeks. Recording translations for many West African languages will take some time, but we have started right away,” adds Chu’no Ike.

According to TechLoy, short-term housing startup Travlr and budget app developers FindR were named the runners-up.

The Southern Africa Ampion Bus will be making its way to AfricaCom — one of Africa’s biggest tech conferences held in Cape Town, South Africa between 11 and 13 November — where the initiative’s participants will be pitching their ideas.